Mobile drill platforms have been employed to drill holes into the earth for various purposes. Such purposes include soil sampling to assess soil properties for preconstruction soil analysis, rock coring, mud rotary drilling, solid stem auger drilling, etc. Existing mobile drill platforms are typically large devices that weigh up to several tons. The existing drill platforms typically have continuous tracks for mobility. When an existing drill platform moves over a lawn seeded with grass damage to the lawn typically results causing expense and the need to repair the damage caused by the movement of the drill platform.
Existing drill platforms can only access areas that provide enough room for the vehicle to pass there through, given the constraints posed by obstacles resident on the surface, such as, trees, rocks, buildings, etc. Due to their large size and weight, these existing drill platforms cannot be maneuvered on terrain that contains substantial relief, such as terrain containing hills or valleys or between closely spaced trees, into or around buildings, etc.
Small portable drill rigs have been developed that can be manually carried into tight places. These small drill rigs have inadequate power to drill to sufficient depth and through hard materials.
What is needed is a mobile drill that is highly maneuverable and which can travel over a surface such a seeded lawn without causing penetration and destruction of the turf while being capable of drilling deeply and through hard subsurface materials.